One arrested, three more face theft charges in scrap metal case

PHILLIPS, Maine — An Augusta man has been arrested and three more will face charges after a deputy stopped a pickup truck with a trailer overloaded with scrap metal on Route 4 Wednesday night.

Franklin County Deputy Matt Brann stopped the vehicle at about 10:30 p.m. after noticing a defect and the vehicle and trailer being extremely overloaded with scrap metal, Deputy Nate Reid said Friday.

Brann asked the driver and three passengers where the metal came from and was told it came from a man in Phillips, Reid said. There have been a lot of thefts of metal around the area, and police have been on alert to this, he said.

Brann was pretty sure the metal came from the abandoned USA Concrete Plant on Route 4 in Phillips, Reid said. He had the vehicle towed to Bryan’s Auto Body in New Vineyard and the driver and three passengers found a way home, Reid said.

Brann also took photos of the metal and filed a police report at the sheriff’s office. Deputies saw the report the next day and Reid, Sgt. Steve Lowell and Detective David St. Laurent went to the abandoned concrete plant. They determined the metal had come from there, Reid said.

Radiators were removed from trucks. The sluices that concrete was poured from were taken off trucks and batteries removed, he said. Other miscellaneous metal was taken from the yard, he said.

Brann and St. Laurent went to Bryan’s Auto to look at the material in the truck and trailer to confirm it came from the plant. When the owner of the truck came to get it Thursday afternoon he was interviewed.

Shawn Michaud, 32, of Augusta was arrested on charges of felony burglary and theft, Reid said.

Michaud was not the driver of the truck that night, he said. The other three people in the truck will also be charged, he said.

Michaud was still at the Franklin County jail on Friday morning. His bail was set at $250 cash, a corrections officer said.